Watch iFilm's exclusive report on ‘Shadow’, directed by Masoud Navabi and starring Iranian actress Diba Zahedi and actor Reza Kianian.
Below are highlights of the report.
iFilm: ‘Shadow''s storyline revolves around a girl and a boy who want to get married, but the girl’s father disapproves. That doesn’t sound new, does it?
Navabi: What you say is exactly right. When you watch the first 10 minutes, you’ll think that it’s the same old story about a girl and a boy who want to get married but someone disapproves.
Surprisingly, after 10 minutes, the story changes completely and the audience can’t even guess what’s going to happen. It takes a 180 degree turn and attracts the audience. This is what attracted me, not the first 10 minutes of the movie.
iFilm: ‘Shadows’ screenplay was written by Sirous Ranjbar and Voneh Hemati, but that was the initial draft. It underwent many changes over a period of time.
Navabi: I had a screenplay titled ‘A Passenger from Far Away’ based on ‘The Idiot’ by Dostoevsky.
I wanted to give it to Mr. Motalebi to be re-written. Well, he mentioned some points about it and we came to this decision, that we can’t work on it.
He said there is a screenplay by Yadollah Shahidi. First, I met him and I read his screenplay and I liked it.
But, it had many issues; there was too much action in it. I asked him to give me one month.
It was in March, I rewrote it during a month. I cut out the action parts. He liked it, too.
Then, I introduced a sponsor. Mr. Motalebi was supposed to rewrite it once more because there was no consistency in the dialogue. Some parts were written by me and some parts were written by him.
The pre-production period was done and the film was ready to be made.
However, the main story belongs to Sirous Ranjbar. Mr. Motalebi rewrote what was written by Sirous Ranjbar, then I rewrote it and after that Mr. Motalebi did the final draft. It was like that.
‘Shadow’, we wanted it to suit the storyline. In fact, when it becomes like a ghost, it’s nothing more than a shadow.
But, unfortunately, I don’t know how everyone suddenly became interested in ‘Shadow’. Every film that was made after that was named ‘Shadow’. It damaged our work but we had no choice. There are two films right now that have the word ‘shadow’ in the title.
iFilm: The movie ‘Shadow’ is among the rare movies that the director had no role in choosing the cast at all. Somebody else chose the whole cast.
Navabi: We chose the cast professionally. We put a special person, Yadollah Shahidi, in charge of choosing the cast. He asked for my opinion but he made the final decision by himself.
iFilm: It is possible that the director might not like the choices of the cast at all.
Navabi: Most of them truly match the characters, like Reza Kianian, Fatemeh Goudarzi and Shabnam Moghadami. They truly match the roles they have taken.
You know, with regards to the young characters, I would have preferred them to be from among famous actors and actresses. A famous cast attracts audiences to the cinema halls and that’s when a movie’s name becomes word-of-mouth. We did not have that advantage because our young actors and actresses were not famous, unfortunately. They were good but not famous.
Zahedi: I think I already mentioned this, I think working with a professional cast, veteran actors, experienced ones like Reza Kianian or Mr. Hosseini, or in my next project with Parviz Parastoui, it’s like playing ping pong. The more your rival plays well, the more you’ll improve and shine. On the contrary, if he doesn’t play well, he’ll make you lose your energy and everything is ruined.
iFilm: The final production is completely different from what the director had in mind, but of course the director likes what he has done no matter what.
Navabi: All directors, not only me, professional directors do not reach their ideals in every project.
Anyhow, I like this film very much and I think it’s my best film so far. It’s real good. It has turned into a really good movie.
With regard to some of my works, I can say that I don’t like them at all, but with regards to this film, I’ve never said such a thing.
It has turned out really well considering the shooting, the sound and the editing. It’s really good.
Zahedi: My reasons for choosing the film, of course, I’ve considered some points. It was a cinematic screenplay.
When a screenplay is supposed to be made into a film and it’s supposed to be screened, you know it’s a big deal. Then, I was assured that Reza Kianian will star in the film.
Well, you know, I put things together, and at the end of the day I had to decide whether I wanted to be in this film or not. The presence of Reza Kianian mattered to me.
In my opinion, we gain experience while working, especially working with professionals. We begin to learn in practice what we’re studied in theory. It’s important.
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